***Harry Styles***
Friday, January 27th, 2012 – Holmes Chapel, England

As soon as I spoke the words, I braced myself for the reaction of my family. They were silent at first, so I continued.

“I’m gay,” I repeated, finding some sort of release in speaking those words out loud, “and Louis is my boyfriend.” I took his hand in mine. It was the first time either one of us had used the “B” word, and I looked at him, now worried about his reaction, too. He smiled happily, and so did I, lost in his eyes for a minute before snapping back to reality and remembering the matter at hand. My mom was tearing up. “Mom, don’t cry,” I said, immediately feeling terrible. She smiled and shook her head.

“I’m just so happy you finally felt like you could tell us,” she said, as she stood up and walked over to me, pulling me to my feet as she hugged me.

“Wait, you knew?” I asked her, holding onto her hips so I could look at her face. She nodded.

“I’ve always known, Sweetheart,” she told me. “I was just waiting for you to catch up.” She hugged me again, and I felt my own eyes well up at her acceptance of me. How did moms always know everything?

Robin stood up then and joined in on the hug.

“We love you, Harry,” he told me, kissing the top of my head. “No matter what.” I let out a sob, but it was a happy sob, a sob of relief, not sadness. Robin then turned to Louis, my mom still unable to let go of me. “Welcome to the family, Son,” he said, extending his hand. For someone who didn’t know Louis as well as I did, they wouldn’t have noticed the flicker of appreciation in his eyes when Robin said that, and it meant a lot to me that his acceptance into my family meant a lot to him. He smiled his big trademark Louis Tomlinson smile, stood up, and shook Robin’s hand, nodding a polite thank you. Finally, my mom stepped aside, keeping her arm around me and extending her other one out to Louis, who, instead of giving her a side hug, threw both of his arms around her neck and kissed her on the cheek, in only Louis style. We all laughed, and she let go of me to envelop Louis in his own embrace. I smiled, and then looked at Gemma, who had been quiet this whole time. My heart sank.

“Gemma?” I asked, as Louis and my mom let go of each other. She looked at me, her eyes wide and watery.

“I’m sorry for all the gay jokes I ever made to you,” she said, truthfully. I let out a laugh. It was true – she had always made comments about my sexuality when I’d done something girly or dressed nice, but to be honest, they’d never bothered me, not coming from her. She wasn’t doing it to be mean, and I found her jokes funny. Coming from someone else, they may have hurt, but not my sister. I walked over to her, took her hand, and yanked her to her feet.

“I hope they don’t stop,” I told her, looking into her eyes so she knew I meant it, but I had a smirk on my face. She laughed – now it was her turn to be relieved – and she fell into my arms, crying, but happy tears as well.

“Well, I feel left out,” Louis announced, when he had had enough of the emotions. We all looked at him, my arm still around Gemma. “I’ve known you for almost three hours and you haven’t made one gay joke at my expense,” he told Gemma, half of his mouth turned down in a frown.

“Oh, please, Louis,” she said. “All those tight pants and suspenders you wear all the time? You make it too easy.” I snorted, and Louis threw his head back, laughing, then ran and hugged Gemma the same way he’d hugged my mom. She giggled, surprised, and I knew he had officially been accepted into my family, and so had I.

The next day, we said goodbye to Robin and Gemma, and Anne took us to the rental car place so we could rent a car and drive to Louis’s parents a couple hours northeast of where we were. As we set out on the road, I glanced at him from the driver’s seat. He didn’t look as nervous as I thought he should’ve been.

“You ready for this?” I asked him. He nodded.

“Seeing how well your family reacted made me feel like everything’s going to be okay,” he told me. “I mean, it’s our family, they love us, I don’t know why we’ve been so worried.” I smiled at how right he was. “How are you feeling now?” he asked me, our first alone time since I’d come out to my parents. I smiled.

“It feels good, Lou,” I told him, reaching across the car to mess his hair. “You’re going to feel so much better once you tell your family.”

“I sure hope so,” he breathed, but now he sounded more excited than nervous.

Notes

Directioners,

What was your first reaction of this chapter? :)